What Does it Mean to Live by Faith?

What does it actually look like to live by faith? Does walking in faith parallel itself as to walking blindly? There have been times in my own life that a leap has been taken blindly with poor execution that came from lack of real faith.  I have been known to rush God. My lack of patience is a downfall in my Christian walk with God. To be specific, in the beginning of my marriage, I quit a job without another one lined up. My circumstance made me unsettled and I had little desire to seek God for change. So, I changed my situation without seeking Him. This turned into total chaos in my marriage and did nothing to better His plan on my life.

See, there’s only one true faith. I may hurt a lot of feelings, but as Christians, we have to be bold in the Bible’s teachings. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” If this is truth, which it is, we must abide in scripture for clarity and direction for any area of our everyday life. The Bible spells out faith very clearly, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1. Walking by faith means knowing God is leading even when you can’t see where you’re going. You might see that as walking blindly, but with God as your eyes and ears, you will never be led astray. 

How Can We Live by Faith?

We have to first understand that without faith, we simply cannot please God. If we draw close to God and believe in His existence in our own life, we start walking by faith. Faith is difficult and at times walking by faith seems the opposite of productive. In Hebrews we see various examples of people who lived by faith and let God lead. One that sticks out to me is Noah. Noah was called by God to build an ark. It had never rained in the sense of water falling from the sky. So Noah’s faith in God looked idiotic to those who did not walk with God. Living by faith means that sometimes you will look like you’re making uneducated decisions to those looking into your life from afar. 

However, let us not get comfortable making decisions we deem to be of faith without much prayer and guidance. Faith is not some magical skillset for decision making. The Bible also says, faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountians. I don’t know about you, but my faith has never moved a mountain physically. This reality should be humbling. Living in faith is miraculous and the source of that faith is unmatched. Just as Noah built the ark, we too cannot sit idly by when God calls us for a specific purpose. I think the first place to turn when you hear God calling is prayer. That should immediately be followed with the study of God’s calling in the Bible.

What Does Living by Faith Look Like for Me?

Faith looks like following the light even in the darkest times. In John 8, we can know that following Jesus leads us to truth. The pharisees doubted the tesimony of Jesus, but Jesus was already testified for in the Father. The pharisees dug even further to ask where Jesus’ father was to account for His testimony and Jesus wittingly replied, if they knew the Father that they would also know Him. Those who cannot see the light and don’t live in faith will not have eyes to see in the darkness. Those who know Jesus deeply and seek His light have clear vision through the darkest areas of everyday life.

Living in faith means taking a step into the light. When we focus on our own kingdom, we are not seeing through the lense that God has for our lives. Unfortunately, the flesh makes it hard to focus on the light. We can get so caught up in our circumstance of darkness we forget that Jesus is the source of our light. Don’t get me wrong, our lights shine brighter when we walk with likeminded people. If one person has a flashlight at night, there is still limited vision. However, if lots of people with flashlights show up, the light gets even brighter. Godly counsel will help illuminate God’s truth in your own life and it definitely beats walking in this dark world alone. The challenge here is that you don’t have to live by faith all alone. Life gets a bit brighter when you have people to walk it with you. Matthew 18:20 -“For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.”